Heathendoom was a Swedish fanzine during the later part of the 1990’s focusing on Death and Black metal. It was written in Swedish, but here’s an article/interview translated to English for you.
SORHIN: SEND US AN ANGEL TO KILL
”Vi skuggar solen med vårt hat
hat som får blommor att vissna
Ingen frid, ingen återvändo
Döden slukar era själar, syndens vita trälar
Det som en gång var ett kristet liv
Nu djupt i jorden gömmas…”"We shade the sun with our hatred
hatred that makes flowers wither
No peace, no return
Death devours your souls, the white slaves of sin
What was once a Christian life
Now deep in the earth is hidden..."(Text lines taken from; "Tills Döden Er Alla Tar" / I Det Glittrande Mörkrets Djup)
The scene in Borlänge (small town with 40.000 residents. Once voted the ugliest town in Sweden /D.O.M. remark) is definitely not the most pleasant in Sweden when it comes to brutal metal. And if we move out into the really black periphery and look around, there is not much to see, one could say that SORHIN reigns supreme at home, there is no significant competition. But Dalarna as a whole does have a couple of dark diamonds to offer. I realize that we agree on that point when we unanimously proclaim HYPOCRISY.
— THE ABYSS is also one of the black metal bands I listen to on, they have the feeling and the rawness, their music is damn good, fast and violent and they are damn sensible as people too. In Borlänge, on the other hand, there is nothing. Yes, there are some young pigs here who are doing it, but they are 15 to 18 years old, and it is nothing I want to listen to. You have heard everything before. There will be some industrial too, but then it will be real death industry, insane and violent, then raw black metal then.
Like?
— MARDUK, GORGOROTH, DÖDHEIMSGARD, MAYHEM, DARKTHRONE.
Very Norwegian you…
— Yes, unfortunately! I was just thinking about it. MYSTICUM is also damn good. Yes, Sweden doesn't have much in the violent school, it is MARDUK and ALGAION that come to mind first. The latter have certainly changed their style quite drastically on their latest album.
DISSECTION then, certainly not black, but…?
— They're damn good, but it's not really my thing. I want the violent and destructive. But their message is that, they said it's OK.
Do you think it's all connected, that it's important?
— It's damn important. That's what determines whether you can listen to it, I think. But you're always looking for something new... pop.
It's music in the domains where CURRENT 93, DEATH IN JUNE and STRENGHT THROUGH JOY move and spread nice vibes in the darkness Nattfursth is referring to, and they definitely don't play pop!
— No, not pop, but it's soft music, but damn destructive.
Zombie pop, not quite right, but not too far-fetched?
— Well, I don't know what to call it. But I listen to that kind of music more than this kind of music, he says and grimaces to the tunes of “House of the Rising Sun” that are playing loudly inside “Jussi B”, where we are currently, one of the few pubs worth visiting in Borlänge, and continues:
— There is a completely different feeling in that music, it is deeper, I don’t know what to say, the opinions, or the thoughts are conveyed in a different way, well, it’s hard to explain, but it gives me more to listen to that kind of music, zombie pop, than new black metal, nowadays as Christer Pettersson usually says.
Christer Pettersson?
— He is a hero.
But there are plenty of hard rockers in town, Nattfursth continues, for example those he himself hangs out with.
— But they listen to ACCEPT, MAIDEN and old hard rock, there are those who live for beer and have listened to hard rock their whole lives. But black and death metal, I don't hang out with that kind of thing at all, it doesn't do anything for me. I don't know if there are that many either. I might meet someone in the pub sometimes, although it's drunk, so you don't remember it the next day. But hard rock does exist. There are a hell of a lot of bands here, it's a music city if you say so, although all the bands suck more or less, in my opinion anyway. I mean, what kind of bands are they? OK, they're good at playing, but the music?
He sighs and goes on to say that SORHIN has stayed on the defensive and by avoiding posing in newspapers and the like, has remained fairly anonymous at home.
— That's how it should be and that's how it will remain.
But most of the people up here probably know you guys...?
— They know who I am as a person, but I don't know about the band, because I don't go around talking about the band. Although they know that I'm the one who sits at home in the basement and kills kids, that's how the rumors go around, that's how it works...
A POWERFUL EXPERIENCE
What paved the way for Nattfursth into the underground was when he saw SODOM in Fagersta in 1989, then MORBID ANGEL came and gave the public the hell out of it and then the German thrash kings KREATOR, well, who doesn't remember that time?
— Yes, it's wrong to thank punk pigs like Babs, but it was the Fagersta gigs in early 89-90, when you were running around playing a lot of gigs, that's when you got into it all and bought zines, demos and such. But you've always sought the brutal, it started with KISS, WASP and VENOM. Then it became SEPULTURA, they were brutal in the beginning. Yes, KREATOR, SODOM and METALLICA as well, HELLOWEEN too, in and of itself it's not that brutal, but you listened to it anyway. Then it got worse and worse. But that album that, I don't know was it released in 1990? (1992 /eds. note) “A Blaze In the Northern Sky”, that was when people were more exposed to black metal.
Which was the absolute first black metal band you were exposed to?
— VENOM, BATHORY, you could say something else! No, but it’s true.
Our opinions are in the same vein when it comes to going to gigs today… I mean where the hell has the spread of demos and zines gone? If you bring a bunch of blasphemers and try to rock out at gigs today, people will think you’re a bag-lady. A big shout out to Mr. Zeptic who was hanging around on a box out in Skärholmen where NAGLFAR and VINTERSORG and others were playing, and what’s worse, a crappy arrangement.
— Yes, bands don’t make demos anymore, they release records straight away. Bands you've never heard of come along, they come from nowhere and then they sell 50,000 copies!
— In the early nineties, back then it was all about the music, so you did it yourself, the audience had empathy. Now it's like this; "damn you should do it, I have my own band, we're better", that's how people reason. So I don't have much left over for underground gigs of today. In and of itself, this year has been damn good if you look at gigs, you've seen everything there is to see.
Like?
— CURRENT 93, the absolute best, then I was just sitting there and doing it the whole time, so "you can't stop". If you're at an underground gig, you kind of experience the opposite.
He sounds lyrical to say the least when he describes the gig he performed at a church in London, the atmosphere he sighs...
— It was so damn good, it can't be described in words. If you weren't there, you missed something. KING DIAMOND and MERCYFUL FATE were also damn good, at, what's the name of that kinky club... Electric Garden. And then DEATH IN JUNE, NON and STRENGHT THROUGH JOY in Borås, that was also great. Then BLOOD AXIS most recently at the Cold Meat festival, it was so damn good that you...
THE DEMANDS OF THE SOUL
What's going on with SORHIN right now?
— Nothing's happening...
So you're not doing anything?
— Well, we're writing material for the next album. We've done four songs that are completely finished with lyrics and music, that's all we do. We haven't rehearsed since the fall of forty-two. No, but we rehearse here sometimes, with a drum machine because the drummer lives thirty miles away, in Sundsvall.
Nattfursth is referring to Zathanel, the former SETHERIAL drummer, now involved in no less than two bands, MIDVINTER and BLOT MINE. Considering the distance, it's understandable why SORHIN rarely raps. But when Nattfursth spews out that he hates, really hates everything that rapping entails, it seems more likely that that's the factor that weighs most heavily in the context, and not the distance.
— It's just a lot of fucking crap, bad sound and a lot of looping and squeaking and… It can be fun sometimes, if you do it two or three times a year with a real drummer. But a drum machine, it's the damn worst thing there is to rap with.
Drum machines or not, I know that I'm not alone in the world in imagining that the very charm of having or being part of a band lies in the rapping, even if the blue mists in my eyes have slowly worn away over the years. But still, I always ask myself, and countless bands, the question, which is starting to feel pretty passé at this point, why do you actually start playing? Just to record records, or what?
— Well, it's the soul that demands it, you have to express your feelings. Well, but if he had lived here we would have rehearsed a lot more, I'm sure of that. But you can't keep traveling, it's sixty miles there and back.
But what keeps you going, considering that you don't see each other that often?
— Yes, but there's something that drives us, you have to get it out. It's more or less your life in some way. It takes up your life every day or two anyway, because it's much more than music. It's not just writing music and lyrics, you have to answer interviews and...
I hear you're good at that. Are you getting that lazy?
— But it has absolutely nothing to do with us thinking we're rock stars or anything like that. It's just that we're so damn lazy and just can't do it.
Yes, thanks...
— But I promise there will be three or four interviews a week. But the newspapers don't come out. Damn Poles with their "hey I'm so poor, send your wife, your car, your house". It's something like that; "send a record I'm going to start a newspaper soon, it'll be damn good". I don't have the energy to send it to them or, what the hell am I going to go to the post office unnecessarily and mail a letter? No, I think time goes by way too fast for you to have time to do anything. You just lie around and do your homework on weekdays, then on weekends...
Do you cancel?
— Yes. But it means a damn lot anyway, the band, it's a part of you, it's you.
But don't you think SORHIN would sound a little different if the scratching took place more continuously?
— No, I don't think so, I rather think that we would ulle just get tired of the songs faster.
SORHIN is the band that never started rehearsing, that's how the situation in the band has always been. But having a drummer nesting up in Norrland can't be completely painless, and the concept of "porta-recorded tapes" is consequently a well-known concept within the band, as well as well-used. Eparygon records the music with a drum machine on a porta and sends the tape up to Zathanel in Sundsvall.
— Then Zathanel comes here and knows everything. He's so easy to learn that it's scary. The first time he came here after listening to the tape, we just counted in and then he ran through all the songs without a single mistake, we made more mistakes than he did. He stopped like; "Oh, is that how it's supposed to be?".
To this, Nattfursth then adds his darkly flavored lyrics born from his own thoughts and feelings. While he himself is responsible for all the lyrics, Eparygon makes sure that the music takes shape, that is, apart from a couple of riffs that the prince himself created, he firmly claims that this is how they have always worked and that is how it will remain. Without himself and Eparygon, there would be no SORHIN, if one of them stops, SORHIN stops, period. But what about the lyrics, an inexhaustible and ever-present source?
— It comes when it comes of itself, you have to get it out, you can't sit down and force yourself to write, but right now I'm in an inspiring period, so there will be a lot of coffee and sleepless nights.
What inspires him when writing lyrics is not black metal, he firmly claims, and no "political" opinions are involved either, it has nothing to do with SORHIN'S music. With a little intelligence, this becomes apparent quite quickly when you look through the lyrics, which extend as far outside the framework of politics as possible. What he instead lets himself be inspired by is himself.
— So it comes from a deeper level. Everything comes from within, it's your feelings and thoughts that are reflected, some of which are quite personal.
Not the forest then?
— Now that was a long time ago if I'm being honest, a damn long time ago. Since moving to the city it never goes away, I lived more or less in the country before. But it's hatred in general, it can be anything, that you're damn hateful, aggressive, and so you have to get it out in some way. It's my hatred that's reflected in the lyrics, you could say, my disgust. Yes, myself, everything that I have inside at the time when I'm writing. And my lyrics are only for myself. I don't give a damn if people don't like them, I only write them to satisfy myself, to get something out of it…
Among the lyricists the man across from me looks up to is David Tibet, CURRENT 93. One of his personal favorites.
— He can convey emotions in an incredibly deep and symbolic way, which very few are capable of doing.
— …STRENGTH THROUGH JOY, and FENRIZ too, especially the lyrics on the old "A Blaze..." and "Under A Funeral Moon". But it's not like I sit and rip them off straight, but they write damn well.
What Nattfursth believes characterizes the art of black metal, and if not a must in the recipe is rawness, no fucking nonsense. Musically, he believes it should be fast, raw, violent and screaming.
— That's what appeals to me, it shouldn't be some romantic nonsense. Synths, vampires and such don't fit in, it's supposed to be damn dark and destructive, the lyrics just as well. Total death! It has to do with darkness, of course, and it should also be performed by the dedicated. Those who have dedicated their lives to the dark aspects of nature and humanity.
Those who don't belong to the aforementioned group then?
— Honestly, I don't care. The true meaning of black metal is more or less destroyed if not gone because of the bands popping up every now and then, everything has gone in a far too commercial direction. It's sad now. So bands like "………" and bands like that. I think it's completely gone off the rails. It's far too commercial, just look at DIMMU BORGIR and CRADLE.
True and Untrue might fit into the context…
— True, what true? True to what? The main thing is that you are true to yourself and that you stand by what you say. That has also gone too far, it's crazy.
And image…
— That's what's wrong, it's just image for the most part. Be yourself. Now we're there again.
Well, I thought I'd summarize this interview; the answer to all the questions was; be yourself…
— Yes, so I'm going to be myself and everyone else is going to be enslaved. No, but they pretend to be something they're not. "Hi, my name is Mörker, I'm fifteen, I hate life, I'm going to kill everyone". No, but that's about it…
What about yourselves then, what separates you from them?
— Yes, but it's a way of reflecting yourself, your feelings. We play brutal music, we have a destructive message, then you can look a little destructive too.
So for you, it's not about image?
— I don't see it as image. In and of itself, I don't run around in makeup usually, I don't. But, no, it's not an image.
Corpsepaint?
— Yes, we use that.
But do you think it's a must?
— No, I don't think so, it's not necessary. Well, it's necessary... I can only speak for myself. I don't care if people use it or not.
Pig's blood?
— It's an effective ingredient.
UNIQUE SOUND ART
What do you think about the fact that SORHIN is quite often compared to BURZUM? I've seen it in several places...
— Have you?
Yes...
— I've seen it everywhere, just everywhere.
What do you think it's because of...
— It's the song. The old song that it sounded like during the demo days, that must be it. But then what, sing like him, not many people do it, damn it, then they should complain about all the other singers who sound exactly the same. To imitate IMMORTAL then, it's totally OK to sound like that. But how many people sing like the BURZUM guy then, there aren't many. But as soon as someone happens to sound a little similar then it becomes a fucking complaint, then it's a rip-off and so on. Ugh, I'm so fucking tired of being compared to BURZUM all the time.
What do you think about the music anyway?
— The first album was damn good, I don't like the others that much. The first one was damn raw, it was recorded and released before he had done something wrong too, so why should you stop liking it?
What do you think about that whole thing, the murder and that?
— I'm pretty tired of it. I didn't know any of them, so I stay out of that, but it was tragic, because "De Mysteriis" is among the best black metal albums that have been recorded together with "Under A Funeral Moon". But that was also what started the trend, bands that started to dare to play, because he had the know-how, Euronymous, back then there weren't many bands. Yes, around 94 it blossomed completely, then bands were popping up everywhere.
We're shitting BURZUM, what do you think characterizes SORHIN?
— Other people say that we have our own style, that the melodies sound different, and I actually think so too. Eparygon has his own style when he writes, so his songs don't sound like the others, I think. I can't say that it's completely original, because that's impossible to be, but I think we have our own style, we don't copy anything anyway, we don't.
But what has happened to SORHIN's music if you compare it to the first demo, "Svarta Själars Vandring" which came out five years ago, and the promo "I Fullmånens Dystra Sken" the year after? Both printed in four hundred copies and completely sold out today.
— It's been a long time since I listened to them, I don't know. It's the sound that has developed first and foremost, I think the music stays within the same framework. OK, of course it has developed, but as I said, no drastic changes have been made. But "Demo 93" and "Promo 94" are recorded on porta, so the sound can be discussed. It was with ABYSS then, yes, it lifted us with better sound, so to speak.
The response outside the borders of Sweden has been good, especially in Germany, not particularly unusual since the Germans currently seem to suffer from a total gluttony when it comes to metal. But that's the only thing that counts, says Nattfursth, "Germany has been good, and that's the main thing...", well but as I said they are crazy about all kinds of metal, I comment silly. "Yes, but it's Germany that's most important..."
Why might one wonder?
— Yes, but if you think back…
Think back what? It all just ends with a fat tanner… a fun thing…
— No, we'll skip this now. Honestly, I don't care how much it sells. It's fun if people like it and if it sells a lot, but I won't go home and cry if it doesn't sell.
NO WET DREAMS ABOUT TOURING
Gambling is not something that SORHIN has devoted much energy to. There has been talk of them playing in Sundsvall, but how that will turn out is uncertain.
— But as I said, gigging is not something we prioritize, and that may have something to do with the fact that we've never had a full line-up if you put it that way. It's been so damn complicated, a lot of hassle or whatever. It's mainly the drummers that have been the problem, we used Peter Tägtgren on the MCD, and he should get a lot of Heils for that, we're damn grateful for that...
Yes, he's skilled...
— Yes, he stepped in at damn short notice, after Johan called me I called Peter in the middle of the night; "Yes, we'll be in in two days but we're having a bit of a problem, we don't have a drummer...", "Oh, damn it'll be alright" he said. We didn't rehearse anything then, but he put the drums in quickly. We recorded the MCD in two days, and we mixed for two hours on the third day, but otherwise it was done in two days, and then he was completely un-rehearsed...
Purely musically, Peter hasn't added anything to the album, says Nattfursth, but Mr. Tägtgren knows exactly how SORHIN wants it.
— We tell him how we want it and he just dials it in and then it turns out absolutely great. We come up with suggestions and he executes them in a damn good way. So I mean, I don't think anyone else could do it. He always thinks, he's into music, so he knows what it's about. I could never imagine recording anywhere else, except for the single then, but that's an exception...
What actually happened with Shamaatae and Sataros, something obviously went wrong...
— I don't really have an answer for that. Martin (Sataros /ed.anm) you could see that he had no interest in it at all. At first it was OK, but then you saw how it got worse and worse, it may have had to do with the distance. Then opinions probably differed on some points too. But the fact that Johan (Shamataae /ed.anm) didn't participate in the MCD is still a mystery to us. Martin certainly wasn't involved in any recording, just a live performance. He didn't come along until after the second promo in August 94. But there are no "bad feelings" between us now, as far as I know, not from my side anyway.
Well, we were quick to discover that there was a mess when it came to the line-up. Lovers of SORHIN's music haven't had many chances to try to catch the band, and I mean how many go to Mora during Helloween? In addition, the gig was held at Sandis of all places, certainly a nice concert venue, but like a damn old recreation center that during the days of youth offered both one and the other, scooter overalls, witch mixtures, billiards, poodle hard rock, KISS and disco, no damn. Not even I, who comes from there, went there. However, your editor-in-chief is beating himself up and falling into a fog of depression because she missed the event, when the line-up in addition to the always present Nattfursth and Eparygon also consisted of Sataros and Shamaatae, shame on the scabby country, I would have liked to have seen it. I don't know if SORHIN didn't show off their asses as skillfully as UNANIMATED and UNLEASHED did a hell of a lot of years ago and managed to scare away the unsuspecting in the audience, did the same. According to Nattfursth, it was their best gig in any case, even if the audience was the worst ever. Perhaps more people managed to see them at Bryggargården in Västerås in June 1996, when they spread darkness together with DARK FUNERAL, LUCIFERION, VINTERLAND and THRONEAEON, which was their worst performance if fursth is to be believed. Two months later, in August 1996, the last gig took place in Gothenburg, this time with INVERTED, THE DARKSEND, INFERNAL GATES and ETERNAL MIND. Nowadays, SORHIN has two session members who step in if a live gig should ever come up, two old friends who apparently work really well with them. But as I said, it looks bleak when it comes to that part, again unfortunately. Not even Germany is appealing, joking aside. No wet tour dreams here…
— I don’t know, I haven’t even thought about that thought, it’s not something I’ve thought about. But I have a feeling that it could be really demanding, very hungover. I’m not really into that. Traveling a lot of miles just to play one night and then going home, I don’t get anything out of it. Bad sound, bad arrangements, bad mongo people and… No, to be honest, we’re not capable of fixing it now either, since we’re on a relatively new, but oh so serious, record label (Near Dark prod.).
Nothing appealing then?
— No, not really, but under good circumstances it’s worth thinking about. You’re not worse than being able to change your perspective when it comes to that part.
Who would be the most “cruel” people to play with?
— ALGAION, because they are good friends and we get along well. You have to be realistic, but the absolute worst would be NON or CURRENT 93…
X-TREME RECORDS SUCKS HARD
Near Dark and SORHIN's collaboration works like a charm, Nattfursth is overwhelmingly happy to be on the label of the northerners. Of course, they would certainly sell many more records if they were on a larger label, but he shares the opinion with most other bands that the risk of becoming a band in the crowd also increases.
— Then it is better to be a high priority on a small label, it will be a more personal collaboration.
No other label has shown any immediate interest, he continues, and emphasizes again that the band has no interest in changing labels either.
— I think it works well with Near Dark, we know each other really well, and have daily contact, so it is on a personal level. We have the same opinions about things too, something like that anyway. I wouldn't trade it for a contract with Nuclear Blast, for example, not for money or anything. We can talk things through, like these picture singles, and "At Fanders med Ljusets Skapelser" was also one of those things. It's so general, the less people we need to have contact with, the less trouble. Near Dark has sent over contracts for like two more albums. It's just us who are too lazy to sign, but we've said we'll do it.
While Nattfursth praises Kim and Tobbes Near Dark, there's a lot of hatred for X-treme, the label that started under Arte De Occulta and likewise that label they were first on, and within eight minutes the man has also managed to convince me that SORHIN was treated like old burnt cow shit. When I ask what they were unhappy with, the answer is; EVERYTHING!
It sounds pitiful in the context, but I got a promo cassette anyway…
— Yeah?
Yes.
— Yes, it only took a year to release the album in the first place. And then there was no contact at all, I think they called me once, then I had to call all the time and nag them; “when will you fix it?” “Yes, it will be fixed, we will print about twenty thousand flyers”. I haven’t seen a single one. It also said; “twenty thousand glossy”, what have I seen? Copied flyers, with a crooked cut and paste logo and on perforated paper too, so damn bad. So everything is so unprofessional that it hasn't worked at all, and then the distribution then...
But how did you end up signing for Arte De Occulta?
— I had contact with them and they liked our promo and wanted to release an MLP on vinyl, and then also on CD. So we recorded it, and we were going to put it out to the studio, we were going to get it back almost immediately. It took a year and a half before we got the money. We recorded it in August 95, and nine months later the vinyl was released in three hundred copies. Then I had been calling all the time and nagging, damn it nothing happened, they had promised so much. Then they were going to release the CD too, right after. No, then the guy I had the most contact with quit, he screwed up the company, so then there was even more trouble. Then Punken teamed up with Joel and another guy and took the name X-treme.
— But then there was such a lot of fucking trouble too. They had to register the company, all three were supposed to be on it, and only two got the go-ahead from their Employment Agency, so it took forever. Then it finally came out, a year after we had recorded it, and there was no distribution at all, nothing. So it was completely… well, it didn’t work at all. They called me once a year, and said; “now the MLP has arrived, you’ll get them next week”. Otherwise I had to call all the time and ask how it was going; “Yes, it’s a bit of a mess, but it’ll be here next week…”, and a year went by! It’s so fucking unprofessional. And then they went the cheapest route all the time, just so they could get away with it cheaply. The lyrics were on the vinyl, copied on perforated A4 paper. Then plus that since they didn't own a computer they had cut the logo and pasted it on the text paper so it was crooked too, and then there was a misprint on the record, it was printed on the record that it would be played at 33 rpm then, but then they had changed it to play at 45 with ink on the text paper, stuff like that; it looked so damn unprofessional…
But weren't you tied to X-treme in any way when you were going to switch to Near Dark?
— No, but that was the studio time we had paid for, it was four and a half thousand, it's not that much money, but it's money anyway. As I said, we were supposed to get that right after MLP was released. We got it a year and a half later, when I had threatened to sue. “Yes, I spoke to a lawyer today,” I said, so I just lied, and said that if we don’t get the money… “well, we’ll put in a thousand next week,” they said. So all the money came that week, so they finally gave in anyway.
— But then we signed for Near Dark, and they wanted to buy the rights to the MCD, it was only released in a thousand copies. Then they were going to give X-treme, well first of all Near Dark was going to pay the studio, that was before X-treme had given me the studio money, and then they were going to buy up all the copies X-treme had left plus they were going to get extra money too. Uh, then X-treme says like this, “Yes, Nuclear Blast bought IN FLAMES for two hundred and fifty thousand. So we’ll at least have…”, uh, I don’t know, it was this shameful, I don’t know if it was fifty or a hundred thousand they were going to get for the rights…
Seriously?
— Yes, exactly. Although Near Dark were willing to pay them and buy up everything that was left. But then nothing happened, and now they refuse to print new ones. So they knew even then that they wouldn't print any more, but they still refused to sell...
Is that so?
— Yes. So why not let some other company take over, just to help us then? Near Dark could have released more copies then. They would have gotten money for it, no, it was too little. Instead they screwed up and then they refuse to release more. So I haven't spoken to them since then.
It's not a cheerful guy sitting on the other side of the table at the moment, just in time "In the Depths of the Glistening Dark" is playing in the background, and Nattfursth wonders if he said it, that they're going to sign for Near Dark anyway.
— It's just us who haven't had the energy to write yet. That's for two more full-lengths. Plus that picture single and the CD single. So we're pretty much tied there for a couple of years.
Doesn't it feel heavy, I mean it won't be an unwanted pressure to produce new material, don't you want to do it at your own pace?
— Yes, but we get to do that too. That's what's so good. They don't push a lot of crap on us that we have to look, play and sound like this and that. So we do what we want, we have no pressure at all. We can split up the band if we don't feel like it anymore. So I don't think we're tied to anything, it doesn't feel like it anyway.
Since "In the Glimming Depth of Darkness" it's been quiet for a while, but soon SORHIN will make themselves heard again, mostly to show that they're alive, and we'll get to taste good old vinyl once again, whoever thought this whole thing with picture sevens was out should step out of the underground and change industries. As previously mentioned, there are four songs ready that are just waiting to be burned and immortalized, and if you like SORHIN, you will probably continue to do so, because even though Nattfursth praises bands like CURRENT 93, DEATH IN JUNE and NON highly, he does not allow himself to make the same mistake as too many; jump on the same bandwagon. No, it will be raw fucking black metal that is pressed again this time, and better than before, but in a true SORHIN spirit promises Nattfursth, who has not even felt the urge to compose pieces of music in the style of the aforementioned bands.
— Well, it's like jumping on something. Why create a new trend? It's better to let people who are in the know, who have been doing it their whole lives, let them do it. It will be so much better then, they know their stuff. So I have no plans for that, no, I don't. It's the same thing with black metal, it should be done by those who are into that music.
Before the new album arrives, we have had time to sweat through a whole summer, lie down and hide in our holes. SORHIN will come out of hiding at the end of October next year to quickly and once again enter the ABYSS studio. But for the really hungry, Germans and Swedes, a little evil candy will be on hand if not for too long.
— The closest thing to hand is that we will record a series of picture singles plus a CD single in the spring which will be recorded in Borlänge, in “our own” studio which we have chosen to call HINHÅLE STUDIO, since ABYSS was fully booked. So there will be three different covers on the single, just like VENOM did before, and it will be very different in sound. It is mostly to get something odd and exclusive out, something that is different from the rest, that is what we have talked about anyway, and it will be extremely limited, I don't know if I want to say exactly how many, but it will probably be a symbolic number. Then we return to ABYSS in November for the next full-length recording.
HINHÅLE studio, a sixteen-channel unit located right next to SORHIN's rehearsal room, the rehearsal room that is almost never used. They have used the studio before, although that time the members and band name were different, and eight channels were the situation then. Nattfursth adds, however, that other bands that have recorded there now that the studio has been modernized sound just fine.
SORHIN will in any case, as always, go for a damn raw and screaming sound, or try to get it, something along those lines at least, concludes Nattfursth, the rest of us can only hope.
WELTMACHT
In addition to SORHIN, there is another project that consists of himself, Mårten and Mathias ALGAION, and Tobbe VERGELMER. But everything takes its time as usual. The ingredient in this new project, you could say, is… hmmm… let me see, destructive.
— We're going to record an album as soon as we get our thumbs out of our asses, probably early next year, which will be released by Secula Delenda, a damn ideologically correct label, run by Henry Möller, PUISSANCE. We got a contract before we even formed. It's going to be damn raw, primitive fast black metal, it's going to be VIOLENCE! Unfortunately, drum machine.
What fueled this project?
— The actual background is that we've known each other for a damn long time, and were sitting and discussing over drinks in a pub in Linköping about doing something together, something damn brutal, the way black metal should sound, violent, damn fast and primitive. It went like a year without anything happening.
How much is done then?
— Kamijo, the guy who makes the music is damn lazy, but he can if he wants to. He would fix the songs, and I the lyrics. So at the beginning of next year, as I said, we're going to record.
You don't think there's anything else like that today, brutal and primitive?
— No, I think it's too much melody and too clean sound. It's MARDUK then, they're as violent as few, in Sweden then. They're the only one I can think of right now anyway.
Do you think people will be bothered; if we look at the "ideological" part?
— I don't know. We haven't discussed how it's going to be. Yes, we know how the music is going to be, but we'll see how far we go with the thing itself, because it's a bit, what can I say, a bit of a sensitive subject. WELTMACHT will probably be the band's name, it's not really clear yet, but it's leaning towards that. And everyone in the band has the same opinions, that is, we think the same way, pretty much around then, so it will be violent and good.
Have you started thinking about some lyrics yet? “Hail, Hail”, I joke.
— No, there won’t be any… well, I won’t scream “Satan, Satan” either, then you should do it in a poetic way, it sounds so romantic but… well…
Poetry, it’s not fucking romantic…
— No, but in a deeper way, I don’t write straight to the point if you say so, it’s more that…
You’re keeping the meanings in the dark?
— Yes, exactly, although the opinions are there. It will be recorded at Devo Andersson’s place anyway, the one who played with MARDUK. I think we’ll record there anyway. NEFANDUS has recorded there too, they’re violent, or Belfagor is, I’ve met him a couple of times. He’s one of the few people I respect for being a Satanist, he really stands for it and is fucking violent and destructive. Yes, he is one of the few real Satanists that I can respect.
Is that what you consider Satanism to be, destructiveness?
— I think so. Power too, likewise power. I see Satanism as a dark destructive force that is a part of me. It is not something I worship or anything, but it is simply a part of me.
No La Vey in other words…
— I have nothing against him, some things… well it is nice that he is dead, no but some things are damn good, it is. But I do not follow anything blindly that I read the Bible and follow it, it is nothing like that at all, some things are good but I am not bound to anything, except for this then, says the man and raises his glass.
The beer god, the alcohol demon…
— But that is another thing, you have to have that, it is part of life. A six-pack of Pripps Blå and a bag of chips, that is hard rock.
To conclude, returning to SORHIN, the band's future, in let's say ten years...
— Then we won't exist.
Why not?
— I have no contact with the scene, not in ten years.
What do you do then, have ten children?
— No, not ten, three. No, but I doubt that we will exist. No, no, I don't think so, not in ten years.
In five years then?
— In and of itself, we are quite stubborn about writing material...
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| FRONT COVER OF THE HEATHENDOOM FANZINE #4 |